Best Mobile Phones for Business

For years, Blackberry dominated the field as the bestmobile phone for businesses and professionals.They were one of the first phones that had a full keyboard – perfect for sending emails on the go – and they’re incredibly secure. To this day, the President of the United States uses a Secret Service approved Blackberry. As consumers began to look for more from their phones – whether it was sending emails or managing their calendars – the Blackberry grew in popularity. Soon, it inundated the market as the smartphone of choice. Yes, there were smartphones running Palm and Microsoft operating systems, but Blackberry reigned supreme.

All that said, in recent years, the Blackberry has fallen a bit by the wayside. The iPhone took the market by storm in 2007 and quickly became a status symbol. Everyone who was anyone had an iPhone, and the smartphone market took off. Soon, every brand was making their own version of the iPhone – includingGoogle. And there Blackberry was. Still firmly holding on to its position as the best phone for business people.

That is until the iPhone became more widely supported by IT departments around the country. When it was determined that iPhones could be as secure as a Blackberry companies began allowing their employees to use an iPhone if they wished.

Eventually, the smartphone market stabilized. There are so many makes and models out there now, and IT departments have become so adept at monitoring and maintaining them, that you can pretty much use any brand for work purposes.

But which phone is best? Is it one of the dozens of Android phones, the trusty Blackberry, a Microsoft based device, or the iPhone? We polled our Engineers and asked them the following questions:

What type of mobile phone do you have?

What was your reason for selecting this mobile phone? (Cost, features, security, ease of use, etc.)

What is the most secure mobile phone for business use?

Which phones do you receive the most help desk calls for?

Which phones present the most complicated support issues?

What phone (brand and model) would you recommend as the best phone for business use?

iPhone.

The iPhone was continually ranked by our Engineers as the best phone for professions – even by Android users! The Engineers cited a number of reasons that allowed the iPhone to top the list, including having the best security features – such as the finger print ID – and an app store that is very well vetted by Apple. They also reported that the iPhone integrates well with many ecosystems, including Microsoft environments.

Android.

While most of the Engineers cited iPhone as the best phone for business use, a few of them reported that they themselves use Androids. Their reasoning ranged from a more diverse selection of phones – some with physical keyboards as opposed to iPhones digital keyboard – to a simple preference for the Android operating system over Apple’s iOS (or in one case, a particular distaste for Apple products). That said, it was also noted by Engineers that Android phones are more susceptible to malware invasions than iPhones.

Interestingly, the phone that’s secure enough for The President (and Kim Kardashian) doesn’t seem to make the cut any more as the most recommended phone for the business professional. It could simply be that the average business professional doesn’t need to lock their phone down quite as much as our Commander-in-Chief and so they choose to purchase a phone that’s got a few more bells and whistle – specifically Apps. The Apple App Store and Google Play are overflowing with apps ranging from useful (mobile versions ofMicrosoft Office or Google Docs) to fun (Instagram and Twitter) to everything in between.

Next week, we’ll be discussing which apps are the most useful for the business professional. If you’ve got a suggestion, please feel free to leave it in the comments, or reach out of us via Twitter or Facebook!

For 25 years, Technical Support International (TSI) – a Managed Service Provider (MSP) has been providing our clients with world-class IT support. We’re based just outside of Boston, MA and have been proudly working with clients all over New England. To find out how to make the TSI team a part of your team give us a call at(508) 543-6979 or email info@tsisupport.com.